In The Dog House
by Tessa Honeybee
Summary: Autobots investigate an illeagal dog fight arena in search of hidden energon. The Autobots disguise themselves as dogs to enter the arena and find the energon. But there's a Decepticon or human trap waiting for them. WARNINGS for animal cruelty.
1. Chapter 1

William Lennox walked into a crowded barn with his partner walking closely by his side. He wore casual clothing instead of his uniform, to look like every other thug in the barn. The people's attention was all directed towards the hexagon shaped ring a couple feet below them. They were all leaning over the metal gate around the ring, shouting as loud as they could. Lennox looked down into the ring. An American bulldog and an English mastiff were about to fighting to the death. The American bulldog had quick jaws, but the English mastiff was heavier and stronger. The owners held their dogs back by the collars and beat their dogs to get them riled up for the fight. Lennox's partner, a bulky heavily muscled Rottweiler, looked up at him and then he looked across the ring. Lennox followed the dog's gaze and saw his men on the other side.

"C'mon. We've got work to do." Lennox said, pulling roughly on the dog's short leash. But the dog didn't mind. He knew it was all for show so that they could blend in with the other dogs and their brutal masters. As Lennox and his dog pushed through the tight crowd around the ring, the Rottweiler watched the humans let their dogs loose in the ring. The American bulldog ran at the mastiff with jaws wide open and going for the throat. The mastiff turned defensively and then bit into the American bulldog's forehead. He jerked the American bulldog's head around and took several bites at its ears. The American bulldog never showed any pain as he struggled against the mastiff. Both dogs were completely mad. The Rottweiler felt sick, watching them. It was just down right wrong! The Rottweiler was caught off guard when he felt a body knock against his side. He lost his temper and lashed out at a passing by human. The Rottweiler gave a tremendously loud bark and showed off his terrifying teeth, inches away from the human's leg. Lennox pulled the Rottweiler back to his side quickly before anything got out of hand. He looked at the man his dog just about mauled. To Lennox's surprise, the man was smiling.

"Whoa! That's a mean dog you've got there." He said to Lennox. The man seemed impressed. "What's his name?" He asked.

"Ironhide." Lennox answered. He patted his dog's shoulder. But Ironhide ignored it and kept growling at the other man.

"Is he fighting tonight?"

"No. Not tonight."

"Too bad. I'd pay big money to see him in the ring." the man said. He walked around Lennox and looked back down at Ironhide. "I'll be sure to watch where I'm going next time." He said to Ironhide, and then disappeared in the moving crowd. Lennox glared at the Rottweiler.

"Prime _said _to keep a low profile, Ironhide." Lennox scolded. Ironhide made a grunting noise in his throat and pulled Lennox through the crowd. Lennox held onto the leash, shaking his head at his stubborn friend. Finally, Lennox and Ironhide made it through to the other side of the ring where they met up with Lennox's men and more Autobots in disguise. Robert Epps, who was standing with a boxer, was the first to greet Lennox. Epps' boxer, along with the two other boxers, was totally absorbed in the bloody brawl going on in the ring. The three boxers sat quietly at their master's feet, watching the dog fight. Occasionally the boxers would stand up and start madly barking at the ring. Epps wasn't sure what the boxers were saying. He hoped they were protesting the fight, but knowing how savage those three could be, it was a possibility they were encouraging the fighting dogs. While Lennox and his men discussed their progress so far, Ironhide walked around the three boxers and sat down at the feet of Lennox's First Sergeant, Donelly. Donelly chose Jolt to be his partner in 'the dog house.' Ironhide looked behind Donelly's legs to see Jolt's canine holoform, shying away from all the action. Ironhide stood next to Jolt, who was in the form of a white Akita. Jolt sat behind Donelly's legs with his ears slightly drooped and head bowed low.

:I take it you're not a fan of this sport either.: Ironhide said to Jolt. He used private comm links so no humans would suspect a talking dog. Jolt looked up at Ironhide. His blue optics were overshadowed by the holoform's brown eyes. Jolt's Akita eyes still had a tint of blue in them instead of brown.

:I hate it here, Ironhide. I just can't bear to watch any of it.: Jolt responded.

:Lennox did warn us that we'd see the worst of humanity and their canine companions in this situation.:

:I don't think I'm meant to be here.:

:We chose our canine holoforms by what we thought suited us. Humans chose a select few of us who could complete the mission in these new forms. You portray a popular breed in this sport.:

:Well I wouldn't have chosen it if I knew what this would be like. I knew humans could be cruel, but this is much worse than I imagined.: Jolt cringed at the sound of the American bulldog's pained cry. He didn't need to look to know that the mastiff won. The crowd roared. The three boxers started howling. Jolt stood up and narrowed his eyes at them. :Can you believe those Wreckers?: Jolt said with disgust. :Cheering like that! They're no better than the mindless animals in that ring!:

:Which is exactly why they were assigned for this mission.: Ironhide agreed. :Have the twins arrived yet? Either set?:

:I'm not certain if Skids and Mudflap are coming. They scanned pit bull terriers, but their mini bot frames caused the pit bull form to be significantly smaller than most dogs of that breed. Optimus Prime was worried if they were caught in a situation with the real dogs here, they wouldn't be capable of defending themselves.:

:Due to their small size?:

:Yes. But Sunstreaker will be here for sure.:

:And Sideswipe?:

:Well that's another thing Prime was worried about. According to Sunstreaker, when they competed in the Gladiatorial Games on Cybertron, Sideswipe became madly obsessed with the sport. Sunstreaker told Prime he didn't want Sideswipe coming back to that and turning into...: Jolt trailed off when he peaked around Donelly's legs and saw the mastiff's next challenger. The challenging Dogo Argentino was trying to charge at the mastiff the minute it entered the ring. The owner struggled to handle the dog and keep it back. It had its neck stretched as far out as it could go. Its vicious barking taunted the mastiff, who was also being held back tightly. The dogs' minds were set on one thing and one thing only. Kill! And Ironhide could see it in their eyes.

:That?: Ironhide continued. Jolt nodded.

:Exactly that.:

:That shouldn't be a problem for Sideswipe or for any of us. Lennox has ensured our safety against the fighting dogs. None of us will be fighting tonight unless we find a Decepticon in all this Pit.:

:But that was the purpose of coming here right? Finding a Decepticon?:

:Not entirely. The energy signature of energon was confirmed. The spark signature of a Decepticon was not. Which would make the objective very simple. Find the energon, protect it, and get out.: Jolt peaked out at the sick violence thrashing around in the ring.

:I still don't understand why we have to let this continue.:

:We don't. As soon as the energon is secure, the local authorities will take care of the rest. We'll just have to keep a low profile for now. If we expose ourselves, then the possible Decepticons will scatter and so will the humans.:

Just then the barn doors swung open again. Two more NEST soldiers in disguise walked in with their dogs. Both soldiers had two dogs on leashes. The first soldier, walked in with two Siberian huskies. One was had a silvery gray coat with a white face and belly. He had a gray line down his face that came down to his nose and a white 'v neck' pattern on his chest over his white belly. The husky next to him had a blonde coat with the exact same husky markings as the other. They both walked side by side with their heads held high. They paid no attention to the dog fight, and kept looking straight ahead.

:Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.: Ironhide assumed. They both walked over to Ironhide and nodded their heads. Ironhide found the seriousness coming from the twins to be seriously awkward. But he ignored it. He figured whatever the reason was for their different behavior, had something to do with their past in the Gladiatorial Games. Then there was the NEST soldier just behind them. His dogs were giving him a hard time by _not_ following Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's example to a T. These rowdy little pit bulls ran circles around the undercover soldier that walked them. (More like they walked him.) As soon as they saw the ring, they pressed their noses through the barred fence around the ring, and started growling and barking at the fighting dogs! What was worse was, not only were they barking at, but mocking and threatening the dogs in the ring! As the soldier tried to pull them away, the dogs kept pulling back to insult the Dogo Argentino. Sideswipe turned around and watched their verbal squabble with the Dogo Argentino through the bars.

**"Sunstreaker. Look at this." **Sideswipe laughed through their twin bond. He was watching the younger twins. Sunstreaker turned around and smiled deviously.

**"They're going to get what's coming to them if they're not careful." **Sunstreaker said. **"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, bro?"**

**"Friends...would go over there and talk them out of it."** Sideswipe stated.

**"But best friends..." **Sunstreaker continued. **"..would stand back and let them learn their lesson." **At that moment, just as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker predicted, the Dogo Argentino turned his back on his opponent in the ring, lunged at the barred fence, and nipped at Skids' nose! Skids and Mudflap jumped back in surprise, and ran for the others. They bolted behind their human allies to hide from the laughing crowd. Skids was okay except for a small bloody scratch over his nose. He still seemed a little jumpy though.

"Whoa." Skids exclaimed. "Dis place's intense!" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were still snickering to each other. The rest of the disguised NEST soldiers gathered around Lennox with their dogs. Lennox spoke loud enough for his team to hear the serious tone of his voice, but quiet enough for only his team to hear him.

"Okay guys. The barn's small and really crowded, but there's a lot of property out back too. Check in frequently. Nobody draws any unnecessary attention to themselves." Lennox explained. He looked directly at the humans of his team. "There will be no gambling, no dog fights featuring the Autobots under any circumstances. No one leaves an Autobot unattended, to ensure that a stranger won't throw them in the ring! Keep them safe at all costs. Now move out!"

The NEST soldiers separated and went off to investigate the property with the Autobots. Lennox and Ironhide headed deeper into the crowd to find a safe hiding place for harvested energon. They couldn't bring in any energon detecting devices without blowing their cover. So Ironhide relied on senses to find the energon. He mostly used his new nose for tracking down the distinct scent of energon. He could smell it, but he couldn't track it. Ironhide sent Lennox a text message from his super computer brain.

Captain, I've caught the scent of energon.

"Good Ironhide. Where is it?" Lennox said out loud.

It appears to be everywhere. As if the energon was vaporized into thin air. The scent is particularly strong inside the ring.

"Inside the ring?"

Yes.

"You're not thinking about going in there are you?"

Absolutely not. Still, we have to retrieve that energon somehow.

"Or else the Decepticons take it first. Even if it's just a few cubes, they'll be just a few cubes stronger. And we can't afford to let that happen."

You are absolutely right Captain.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile, the husky twins also caught a whiff of the energon. They and their human partner were scoping out the fenced kennels far behind the barn. No doubt who ever owned the barn, owned the kenneled dogs and was a major fan of dog fights. Sunstreaker walked along the chain linked kennels and eyed the dogs suspiciously. They all barked at him and growled at him, but from what Sunstreaker understood of the canine language, the dogs weren't really saying anything. They were just angry. Sunstreaker tried to look away from their faces, but he couldn't. The smell of energon kept calling him back to them. Sunstreaker's frustration made him stop dead in his tracks in front of a kennel. His leash jerked a little.

"What's wrong?" Sideswipe asked.

"Can't you smell that?" Sunstreaker asked his twin back.

"Well yeah. But I'm just as confused as you are." Sideswipe answered. Their human partner, Paul Briggs, walked closer to the husky twins.

"What's up guys?"

"The energon's so strong here, but I just can't find it!" Sunstreaker said, frustrated. Sideswipe understood how much the dogs' loud barking was irritating Sunstreaker's ears. So Sideswipe walked around Sunstreaker and nudged him a few inches to the right, so that he would be between Sunstreaker and the loud dogs. It didn't help much, but Sunstreaker did feel a little relief when he was no longer face to face with the mad dogs. Through their twin bond, Sunstreaker sent emotions of appreciation and thanks to his twin for the kind gesture.

"We can't find a direct source of the energon, Sergeant. The scent's all around us like we're walking through it. But that's impossible." Sideswipe explained to Sergeant Briggs. They came to the end of the long line of kennels and were now walking around the other side where there were more kennels connected to the backs of the first row. Briggs' cell phone rang a common ringtone. He stopped to pull it out of his pocket and answer it.

"This is Briggs."

"Briggs, its Epps. You've picked up the scent, right?"

"Yeah. But we can't track it. They say they can't find the source, no matter how close it seems."

"Sounds like everyone's got the same problem."

"You too?"

"It's driving the Wreckers crazy. We're running in circles trying to track the energon. They say the energon's moving away from them."

"Well that's not entirely the case for us. The energon's not really moving for us. It's just around us. Or at least that's what Sideswipe and Sunstreaker say."

"Weird. Any suspicious activity?"

"Other than the energon, no."

"Okay well stay on guard. Lennox says he's been getting strange looks from some people."

"Hey Epps? Do you think Decepticons could have disguised themselves as some of the people here?" Briggs asked. "Or even some of the dogs?" He added, eying an especially feisty Doberman.

"Autobots say there's no sparks on the premises except their own. So far we have no reason to believe that Decepticons have found this place yet."

"Yeah. But I've just been thinking. If everyone's spread out over the property, and we're all trying to find energon that's just barely out of reach, what if we're being played in a Decepticon trap? What if there is no real energon?"

"We don't know that for sure. So gotta stick with what we planned best we can." Sergeant Briggs hung up and continued walking with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Despite his doubts, he shrugged them off. Just by watching Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walk side by side, he felt comforted. The twins were without a doubt his favorite Autobots, and the ones he could relate to the most. Paul lost his twin brother Eric when they were kids. They were caught in a car crash one day when their dad was picking them up from school. Eric didn't survive the impact from the air bags. For the longest time, Paul always said it should have been him. They were identical. Same weight and height, same shaved bald haircut (which they both thought made them look stupid), same green eyes, and same everything else it seemed. 'If we're so identical, why didn't those air bags kill me too?' Paul thought when he was a kid. As he grew older he learned to accept life without his twin. But he still never felt the same. There was always something that got in his way of living his life to the fullest. It was always 'Eric and I used to do that. Now we can never do it again.' or 'Eric would have loved that.'

Something changed about Paul the day he met Sideswipe. When Sideswipe first came to Earth alone without his twin, Paul easily related and they became good friends. But the change in Paul really made an impact on him when Sunstreaker came to Earth. When Paul saw how overjoyed Sideswipe was to see his brother, Paul didn't mourn for Eric. He didn't become depressed and wish for his own brother to come back. He was happy for Sideswipe, and ever since then, he didn't grieve so much over his own troubles anymore. He never told the twins, but Paul carried on because he saw Eric and himself still together through Sideswipe and Sunstreaker every day. Even if Sunstreaker wasn't the biggest fan of humans, Paul still held a lot of respect for both of them.

Outside the barn, the Wreckers followed their noses to the corner of the barn. They stopped and let out their frustration in cybertronian swears at their bad luck.

"How hard's it really to sniff out one Pit slaggin' energon cube?" Leadfoot yelled. Epps wondered just how long the Wreckers would keep their sanity at this rate. They passed by that point twice now and there was nothing around the corner of the barn. "Fraggin' sensors must be glitchin' or 'Cons have slaggin' sent us on some wild turbofox hunt!"

"Guys calm down..." Epps started to say, but he was cut off by a ferocious bark from Roadbuster. 'Staying in dog form for so long can't be healthy for you guys.' Epps thought of Roadbuster's choice of 'language.' Roadbuster quickly corrected himself in clear human language (with Cybertronian slang of course).

"Calm down for what fraggin' reason? We're in our element of stone cold killin' and we can't fight! Energon's movin' around and we can't take it, let alone find it! And maybe it's the dog eat dog arena, but I'm a ready to kill somethin' and there's not even a slaggin' 'Con in sight!"

"Well unless you three can get a hold of yourselves, you're off the mission and going back to base." Epps said sternly. He had a feeling they'd listen to that, since it was a privilege for them to be permitted to leave the Xanthium.

"Says you, human?" Roadbuster mocked. He knew better than to call Epps that when he knew his name. They were even almost considered friends. But Roadbuster's short temper was getting the best of him.

"Says Optimus." Epps said. Leadfoot pushed Roadbuster by the shoulder as he stepped forward.

"What do ya want us to do?" Leadfoot asked. Epps noticed the Wreckers' eyes shifted around. Like they were looking for a ghost in the dark. They knew they couldn't see. But they still looked around for it, instinctively knowing something was there. Epps got an idea.

"What if it's under us?" Epps wondered. The Wreckers all looked at each other with excitement. Then they all turned around in a flash and started digging down into the dirt. Epps watched their digging frenzy. He was positive the only thing that would make them happier at the moment, would be if they were digging up a flower bed. Topspin, who was closest to the corner of the barn dug the fastest. The more dirt he flung up behind him, the faster he dug, until his paw scratched the wall when he was expecting more dirt. Topspin whimpered just a little. He looked at the bleeding pad on his paw. To his surprise, he still spilt energon, even in organic form.

Then he noticed the wall. He scratched a section of the wood out of place. Topspin inched just a little closer to the crack in the wall and suddenly inhaled an overwhelming amount of energon scent. He scratched at the wall with his other paw to see just what was on the other side of the wall. But he never discovered what it was. The first thing he heard was Epps' surprised scream. When Topspin turned around, Epps was gone. The remaining Wreckers were surrounded by humans. The humans strangled Leadfoot and Roadbuster by their necks with restraining poles. The two Wreckers fought with all their might to break away from the restraining poles. They even lunged out to attack the humans, but the poles kept the humans just out of the Wreckers' reach. Before Topspin could react, the loop of a restraining pole was pulled over his head and around his neck too! The humans had them all captured now, with no chance of escaping.

:Autobots! Wreckers are being attacked by enemy humans and Epps is gone!: Leadfoot called. His transmission was cut short when a human pulled more forcefully on Leadfoot's neck. He jumped back, but kept running for the barn, absolutely refusing to be dragged off to where ever they were taking them! All of a sudden, more barking echoed over the Wreckers. It was Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, coming to the rescue with Sergeant Briggs not far behind. The twins were howling a battle cry as they charged at the humans. The enemy humans prepared themselves with a sedative gun. One human took aim at the closest dog and fired. The moment Sideswipe took the hit, he became paralyzed and tripped over his feet. He was knocked out cold before he hit the dirt! Sunstreaker slid to a stop and rushed over to Sideswipe.

**"Sides! Get up!" **Sunstreaker cried. A couple humans approached the twins. Sunstreaker stood over Sideswipe defensively and snarled viciously at the humans. They were just about to attempt to capture the twins, when Paul Briggs came running towards them. He pulled out a hand gun and threatened to shoot if they touched his dogs. But one human was a faster shooter than Briggs, and shot Briggs in the chest! Sunstreaker flinched when he saw one of the few humans he trusted, collapse. He would have ran to see if Briggs was alright, but as Sideswipe's brother, he swore to protect Sideswipe before anyone else. Sunstreaker stood his ground over Sideswipe. But the humans were hardly phased by Sunstreaker's warnings. They easily looped a restraining pole over Sunstreaker's neck and pulled him away from Sideswipe. It wouldn't have been so easy if Sideswipe wasn't unconscious. Since he was, Sunstreaker was suffering from the tranquillizer as well. Sunstreaker wasn't directly shot at. So he wasn't feeling the full effect of the sedative. But because of their twin bond, Sunstreaker felt a portion of what Sideswipe felt when he was sedated. Sunstreaker suddenly became very tired and dizzy. He let the humans take him away from Sideswipe. Though he pleaded in his spark not to be taken away from Sideswipe, he didn't have the energy to defend either of them.

The humans carried Sideswipe back behind the barn. Sunstreaker drowsily followed. The Wreckers still fought against the humans with every step. Leadfoot stopped trying to contact the rest of the Autobots. The pain in his processor when he connected to comm links and got brutally choked at the same time was too much to bare.

**Sergeant Paul Briggs and Eric Briggs are my OCs. **


	3. Chapter 3

The humans took the Autobots way back behind the barn to the kennels the twins and Briggs were investigating earlier. Before they trapped any Autobots inside the kennels, the humans slipped highly powerful shock collars onto the Wreckers. The Wreckers put up a good fight, but the humans still managed to wrap the shock collars extreamly tight around their necks. Sunstreaker didn't have the energy to resist, and Sideswipe was still unconsious when the humans placed shock collars on them. The Wreckers were each thrown into the first three kennels. Then Sunstreaker was lead to the eighth and last kennel on that side. He was switched out with a masive cane corso dog, who nearly bit Sunstreaker's face off when the humans opened the kennel door. But the cane corso was pulled away from Sunstreaker just in time before he could attack. The cane corso recognized one human as his master and obeyed him. Sunstreaker staggered into the kennel, unharmed by the cane corso. Sunstreaker fell down on the concrete floor. He felt so tired, but he knew he couldn't afford to recharge when he was still in potential danger. Though he still felt dizzy, he tried to foccus on his surroundings the best he could. The fighting dogs were barking and practicly screaming at him. He leaned his head farther to his right where there wasn't a kennel next to him. But the dogs still barked and yapped at him from every other angle. He heard the sound of the chain linked door slam closed, along with rustling chains and a lock. Sunstreaker winced at those sounds. He hated being locked in.

Sunstreaker gently pawed at the concrete floor. He could feel where other dogs tried to dig their way out, but with no success. Another kennel door opened with a clinking noise and another dog was released. Sunstreaker perked his head up. The kennel in front of him was opened up and a human stepped in with Sideswipe's limp body in his arms. Sunstreaker suddenly became enraged at the human for touching his brother. He jumped to his feet and ferociously snarled at the human. The human jumped in suprise, but then his acquaintances laughed and called to him.

"Go ahead and put him in the next one over." One said. The human holding Sideswipe nodded his head, and layed Sideswipe down in the empty kennel diagonal to Sunstreaker, in the farthest corner away from his brother. Sunstreaker glared at the humans as they released every other dog, and they glared back. When the humans were gone with their dogs, the Autobots were all alone. Sunstreaker was steaming with rage. He hardly payed any attention to the Wreckers ranting. Sunstreaker couldn't have been more angry at the humans. Not just for imprisoning them, but for intentionally separating him from Sideswipe. Sunstreaker paced around his kennel for a moment until he realized something. He wasn't dizzy anymore. Sunstreaker figured he got his sudden burst of energy because the tranquilizer was wearing off. Then he felt Sideswipe coming back online. Sunstreaker rushed to the corner of the kennel closest to Sideswipe. He wanted to be so much closer to him to comfort Sideswipe and himself. But he could only look at Sideswipe by tilting his head around a metal beam.

**"Sideswipe." **Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe lifted his head up and looked at Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker sighed and shared his feeling of relief with Sideswipe. Sideswipe sent his usual cheerfulness and happiness back to Sunstreaker.

**"Its great to see you too Sunny." **Sideswipe responded. But the cheerfulness was gone in a flash when Sideswipe realized where they were. Caged. Fear expoded from Sideswipe's end of the twin bond. Sideswipe jumped up and ran for Sunstreaker's comfort. Only to find their kennels were positioned diagonal to each other and their joining point was blocked by a metal beam. Sideswipe paniced even more when he realized he couldn't reach Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker tried talking to Sideswipe and sending him feelings of comfort. But Sideswipe completely ignored him and continued clawing at the chain link walls and whimpering. Sunstreaker couldn't smack Sideswipe out of his breakdown himself, so he rammed his head into the beam! He hated getting his brother's attention like that, because it hurt them both. But he had to do something to stop Sideswipe's breakdown. Sideswipe felt the sudden blow to his head and layed down perfectly still. He surrendered to the dividing kennels. **"I couldn't stop." **Sideswipe admitted.

**"Its not your fault." **Sunstreaker said. The twins both had their different types of freak out moments. Sunstreaker lost control of his temper and reacted violantly. Sideswipe (though it was rare) had full blown anxiety attacks. Especially when he was locked away from Sunstreaker, he became super claustrophobic. But unlike Sunstreaker's freak out moments, Sideswipe's passed by much more quickly once they were under control. Sideswipe layed still and took in the presence of Sunstreaker through the bond. Slowly Sideswipe stood up. **"Sides listen. We've gotta get these collars off now. Lean as close as you can into the kennel infront of you." **Sideswipe leaned his neck up against the kennel's chain linked walls. Sunstreaker slipped his nose through the chain link. If he could reach Sideswipe's neck at just the right angle, he could snap his collar. Sunstreaker was nudging the collar with his nose now. Just a little farther and...

"AAAHHHHHH!" the twins screamed. Their shock collars zapped them! Sideswipe and Sunstreaker darted back, away from the wall.

"W'told you that wouldn't work." Topspin said to the twins. The twins looked at him with confused expressions.

"We didn't hear you say anything." Sideswipe told him.

"W'told you we've got eyes on us." Topspin said, pointing with a bloody paw towards the ceiling. The twins looked up and saw several cameras looking down on each indevidual kennel.

"Wait, if humans are watching us, then why are we speaking out loud?" Sideswipe whispered to Sunstreaker.

"Because they already know." Roadbuster answered. "They know we're Autobots! Try to call for help if ya don't believe me." Sideswipe looked up at one camera. It zoomed in on him. Sideswipe waited a minute, and then activated his comm links when he felt like he wasn't being directly watched anymore.

:Aut-: Sideswipe started to say, but he was cut off by the agonizing electicution. And Sunstreaker felt it too.

"Ya think that's bad, ya haven't tried to transform." Leadfoot warned the quivering Sideswipe. "While you two were in Lala Land, I tried transforming. You think this is bad now? Calling for help? Trying to take the collar off? Those things will earn you little shocks. Try to transform, and...slag they'll just about kill ya." Leadfoot grunted. Sideswipe blinked. It was unbelieveable. Humans would go this far to trap Autobots. Then Sideswipe had an idea. If humans set this up, was the energon part of the trap too? And if it was, Sideswipe couldn't help but wonder, where in Pit was it?

A light attached to a tree turned on. It was a sensory light and it turned itself on because there was less light. This caught Sunstreaker's attention. It was getting noticably darker. Just how late was it? Sunstreaker went back to the corner cautiously. When his collar didn't zap him, he desided it was safe to lay down in the corner. Sideswipe did the same and they both layed as close as they could get to each other.

**"They can't hear us this way, can they?" **Sideswipe asked.

**"I don't think so." **Sunstreaker said. **"They can't detect our thoughts."**

**"Okay." **After that, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't 'talk' so much. There wasn't anything else to say. They mostly just relayed thoughts and feelings that portrayed their presence back and forth. They kept each other constantly close.


	4. Chapter 4

Lennox and Ironhide were still searching for clues or leads as to why the energon was vaporized into the air around them. The longer Ironhide walked around in the barn, the more he noticed how much the energon was moving. They couldn't find any vents or air conditioning, so they figured the energon wasn't moving with the air. Something else was causing it to circle around them. Lennox needed a break from the dog fights. Of course they never intended on watching the fights while they did their work. But unfortunatly listening to the dogs rip each other apart, caused curiosity. And it became harder for him to look away, no matter how horrifying the scene was. So Lennox took Ironhide outside to the front of the barn. They sat down in the gravel parking area.

Lennox didn't say anything to Ironhide. He just unclipped the leash from Ironhide's choke collar (NEST figured they would need to be able to take the Autobots' leashes off really fast if they had to. They wouldn't have time to fumble with unhooking the leash from a leather collar. So the Autobots were each given easy to slip on and off choke collars. For safty, NEST even put ties on the ends of the two biggest loops of the choke collar so the chain couldn't slide through the loop and choke an Autobot.) Ironhide knew why they were there. But he couldn't help but ask, just to hear Lennox's responce.

"Captain? Why did we leave?"

"I've had enough Ironhide. I can't stand to watch another death match in there. This is beyond cruel and its just wrong."

"I understand Will." Ironhide said. "This is wrong. Humans declare dog fights a felony in all fifty of the United States and there are still cowards who mistreat pets to fight their battles." Will smiled a little.

"I didn't think you cared that much for animals."

"I don't. Even so, any Autobot would never approve of this abuse. The Wreckers cheer for the fights but I doubt they really mean it." Lennox nodded. They sat there quietly for a few moments. They could still hear all the comotion coming from inside. But it was better when they were at a distance. Ironhide layed down in the gravel. Lennox held his hand out to pet Ironhide, but quickly refrained. He always imagined Ironhide as the 'touch me and you're dead' type. For the most part he was right too. Ironhide chuckled. "I don't mind Will. I understand its a habbit for humans to use touch to express feelings for their animals. Though I'll only let it slide this once. I'm your family guardian and nothing close to a pet."

"I know. You're too tough to be anybody's lap dog." Lennox said as he rubbed Ironhide's back. "Except Annabelle's." He added. Ironhide smiled at that, not even pretending to deny it. He'd do anything for that little girl. Ironhide and Lennox were about to go back inside when Ironhide senced movement behind them. He got up and started to venture towards the movement. But while he had his back turned, someone came up behind Lennox and knocked him in the head with a crowbar! Lennox didn't even have time to scream. He was knocked out cold in an instant. Ironhide turned and charged at the attacker! But the human was too fast for Ironhide. The human fired a tranquilizer at Ironhide. Ironhide swiftly dodged it, jumped over Lennox and plowed into the enemy human! The human fell flat on his back with the massive rotweiler pinning him down. The human tried squirming out from under Ironhide, but Ironhide threatened the human with a fierce bark and held his mouth open to show the menacing weapons that made up for his cannons! Ironhide barked again and pushed one of his giant paws down on the enemy human's throat. Normally Ironhide would have had enough control to know better than to harm a human. But this time, Ironhide wasn't thinking about controling himself. He wasn't thinking about what Optimus would want him to do. Infact he was seriously thinking about killing the man! Nobody hurted his charge while Ironhide was around!

The human gasped for air, and shakily reached for his weapon. Ironhide noticed, and lifted his paw from the human's throat, to his arm. Unfortunatly the human was still able to fire from his arm's pinned position. He shot the tranquilizer at Ironhide's side and Ironhide blacked out in seconds. The human pushed Ironhide off of him, stood up and radioed one of his comrads.

"Jason. I've got another Autobot ally down and an Autobot tranquilized. In the parking lot." the enemy human listened to the responce on the other end of the radio. "Sure, his head's bleeding. He'll be dead in an hour I guess." He listened again to his comrad's orders. "Right. Got it." He turned off his radio off and awaited his comrads' arrival, to capture one body and dispose of the other. In a minute or two, more enemy humans pulled up in the parking lot in a pick up truck. They helped their comrad haul Lennox's body into the back of the truck next to more seemingly dead (and some actually dead) NEST soldiers. Half of them drove off with the bodies down the road, and the other half helped carry the Autobot in disguise off to the kennels with the rest.

The sun had set by the time all Autobots were captured. The Wreckers paced back and forth in their three kennels. In the next kennel over, Mudflap was glued to the back of the kennel. The back of his kennel was the closest he could get to Skids who was in the kennel behind him. They were in a better position than Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but the pitbull terrier twins didn't like being caged and separated any better than the husky twins did. Two kennels across from Mudflap, was Jolt. To Jolt's diagonal right was Sideswipe and two kennels across from Jolt was Sunstreaker. The Autobots didn't speak to each other much. They didn't do much of anything at all, to avoid the risk of being shocked. Sunstreaker had an idea. He sat up and cassually started to scratch himself with his hind leg, like any normal dog would do. But the cameras caught him scratching at the collar and caused the shock collar to electricute him with high voltage. Sunstreaker yelped and layed back down right away. He had a feeling who ever was watching them, really didn't like him. He'd only acted up a few times and each time the shock became more intence, as if whoever was in charge of the shock collar controls was becoming annoyed with Sunstreaker.

**"It was a good idea." **Sideswipe told Sunstreaker after he recovered from Sunstreaker's shock. Sunstreaker whined, still feeling lousy about the shock.

"Are you two alright?" Jolt asked them. The husky twins looked at each other and nodded back to Jolt. They hadn't realized that Jolt was aware of the consequences of having a twin bond. If one twin gets hurt, the other feels hurt too. If they are both hurt, they feel their twin's pain add to their own. When Sideswipe thought about it, it made sence that Jolt would understand their twin bond, being a co-medic to Ratchet.

The Autobots bolted to the edge of their kennels when they heard the same group of humans coming back. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Ironhide was being hauled up to the kennels by the humans. They dropped Ironhide's dead weight into the empty kennel between Jolt and Sunstreaker. No Autobot made a sound. They were all paralysed to see Ironhide, the strongest of them, beat down to such a low state. One human stepped in and constricted Ironhide's neck with a shock collar. Though he wasn't the type to speak his mind, Jolt was putting his foot down there. Jolt yelled at the human who was pulling Ironhide's shock collar on so tight.

"Stop!" Jolt demanded. The human looked up at Jolt, but didn't listen. He was about to continue tightening the collar, when Jolt yelled again. "Stop!" this time Jolt was pleading. The human gave Jolt a look, and then walked out of the kennel. But before he could close the kennel door,

"I don't know if the rotweiler's collar is working right." He said to no one in particular, and loud enough for everyone to hear. The camera's shifted. Jolt knew what was coming. Ironhide's collar came to life. Ironhide expoldoed back online! He screamed in agony from the collar shocking him repeatedly! And it wasn't anything he could easily recover from. He was attacked with one shock after another. After six massive blows in a row, the collar finally stopped. Ironhide was laying helplessly on his side and shaking violantly. The kennel locked shut, and the laughing humans began to leave. Jolt was outraged now! He had a new level of hate for the dog fight hosting humans. He swore not to let them get away with that. Jolt jumped at the kennel door and banged his paws on the metal chain link. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" He hollered at the humans.

"We'll discuss that later tonight." One human said, before leading the rest of them away. After Jolt's outburst, he imediatly went into doctor mode. He looked at Ironhide. He was shaking less now.

"Ironhide. Can you hear me?" Jolt questioned seriously. Ironhide blinked and made eye contact with Jolt. Jolt tried to scan Ironhide to analyze his injouries, but his collar suddenly went off and startled Jolt more than hurted him. Jolt sighed.

"What happened?" Sideswipe asked.

"They won't let me scan him." Jolt mumbled.

"Bu' people can't see a scan. Is invisable ta dem." Mudflap blurted.

"They are probibly detecting radio waves. The same goes for how they know when we use comm links."

"So what's da big deal if we scan somethin'?" Skids asked.

"If we can scan a vehicle or some form that isn't affected by the shock collar, we can break out of here and escape. So they're not going to give us that chance." Jolt explained. Jolt layed down, frustrated. Ironhide was quickly catching on to the situation. They were trapped and helpless.

"Jolt?" Ironhide asked weakly. "Where are our allies?"

"Captured." Jolt answered. "Or dead."

"Jolt?" Ironhide asked again. "What did the mean about tonight?"

"I don't know Ironhide. Save your strength for now. I just hope we'll be ready for whatever they're planning next."

**Incase the kennel arrangement is confusing: **

**...(BACK ROW) [empty]-[empty]-[empty]-Skids -[empty]-[empty]-Sideswipe-[empty]**

**(FRONT ROW) Leadfoot-Roadbuster-Topspin-Mudflap-[empty]-Jolt-Ironhide-Sunstreaker**

**Note: There is NO SLASH between JOLT and IRONHIDE! Skids and Mudflap are brothers, Sunny and Sides are brothers, and the three Wreckers have their own sub-group. Jolt and Ironhide gotta stick together because between Sunny and Sides (who are young adults that act like kids), Skids and Mudflap (who are kids), and the Wreckers (who are just crazy), Ironhide and Jolt are the most mature out of the group. So the adults gotta stick together to keep order. BUT ONLY FOR THAT REASON!**


	5. Chapter 5

About fifteen miles away from the Autobots, a red pick up truck was heading for a thicket of bushes off the side of the road. When the car pulled over, the driver and passengers got out to unload their cargo. Will Lennox, being part of the cargo, layed along side his fallen soldiers. As far as he knew, he was the only one still alive. As much as he wanted to run away, he never jumped out of the truck any time during the ride. The main reason was because he couldn't imagine leaving his men with the enemy to dispose of their bodies how ever they chose. They deserved better than that.

Also, Will was getting a lot out of the enemy humans' conversation. Now he wondered how he would defeat them alone, get his men back to NEST, and warn the Autobots of what he had learned. And another thing. Where was Epps? Lennox had accounted for all of his men except for Epps in the truck. Lennox felt the truck park. He layed his head back down and played dead again. He was hauled out first. When they threw his body down on the paved road, a gasp escaped him. At that moment, Lennox was sure he blew it. He didn't need his eyes open to know that a man was approaching him. If he hadn't given himself away before, he was about to. Lennox paniced when he felt two fingers on his neck searching for his pulse. 'Crap!' Lennox thought. Suddenly the fingers pulled away. Lennox was sure he hadn't found his pulse yet. He didn't dare open his eyes to see what was happening. To his relief, he heard the familiar voice of Robert Epps ordering the capturers to stand down and back away from the truck. Lennox opened his eyes and saw Epps with reinforcements coming from two NEST vehicles. The enemy humans were already on their knees with thier hands over their heads. Epps rushed over to Lennox and helped him up.

"Perfect timing Epps." Lennox thanked his friend. "Though a minute earlier would have been nice too." He said, rubbing his arm where he hit the ground. Epps was about to say something, but he was distracted by Will's head wound. "Don't worry about it. It can wait." Lennox told him.

"Not with a hit like that. We've got to get you back to base with the others." Epps insisted.

"Don't worry about them Epps." Lennox said in a low tone. "They're all gone." Epps looked at the open pick up truck in shock. He knew them all very well. Once he realized they were really dead, the stillness of the bodies was unbarable to look at. "We have to get back to the Autobots now." Lennox ordered. But when he stepped away from Epps he felt like he was about to faint from the pounding feeling at the back of the head. Epps came to Lennox's side again and helped him to their truck, while the rest of Epps' team reverently loaded their fallen comrads into the other truck. Lennox tilted his head against the car window. Epps started the truck and shook Lennox back into foccus.

"Stay awake. We can't risk you shutting down." Epps said. He shook his head and grinned when he caught himself talking like his captain were an Autobot. 'Does rub off on ya." He thought.

"Epps. Go back for the Autobots straight away after this." Lennox said tiredly.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Epps told him.

"They took us out to trap the Autobots. They're gonna force the Autobots to fight those dogs."

"What?"

"They're gonna force the Autobots into a fight to the death. Assuming the Autobots will overpower the dogs, those people will rob the other dog owners of their money and when they're done, the Decepticons get what ever's left of the Autobots."

"Humans doing buisness with Decepticons? That's just not right. Something doesn't add up here."

"That's what I heard."

"So who has the energon?"

"I don't know." Lennox sighed.

Around the kennels, it was quiet. Nothing moved but the wind and there was no light except the light in the tree which adjusted its brightness to the darknessm and the moon. The Autobots almost felt safe enough to recharge. Eventually most Autobots gave in, and recharged. Some tried to stay awake, fearing what could happen to them if they let their guard down. But at one point, everyone was recharging. Except for Ironhide. He never even closed his eyes. He stared out at the darkness until he finally saw movement. When he could see that it was the same group of humans that brought him to the kennels, he stood up at attention and waited for them to come to him. The other Autobots began to stir awake when they heard Ironhide moving around. When they saw what he was watching, they all stood up and waited. The humans walked up to the kennels with flashlights. They shined the flashlights over the Autobots. The one who seemed to be leading the group stopped infront of Ironhide. He started to unlock the kennel door. Ironhide didn't dare move. He knew if he made any attempt to attack or even growl at the humans, he'd be shocked or worse. Now was not the time to make threats. Not while humans were the masters and Autobots were the dogs at the masters' feet.

The kennel opened but Ironhide didn't move. The human was suprised and so were the Autobots. The human infront of Ironhide held out the leash and choke collar Ironhide was wearing earlier. Ironhide stepped outside the kennel and stared at the human. The human wasn't quite sure what Ironhide wanted, so he lowered the choke collar.

"Come." the human ordered.

"We were told we'd discuss our purpose here tonight. Start talking." Ironhide said.

"You are dogs, for now. In there's a dog fight." The man said, gesturing towards the barn. "What were you expecting?"

"None of us are fighting. For your entertainment or otherwise!" Ironhide growled.

"But you've worked so hard to find your energon. Wouldn't you like to find out where it is?" The man taunted. Ironhide instinctively tensed up in his shoulders where his cannons used to be. "Your friends will die in vain if you don't." Ironhide lost it after that! He charged at the human and tackled him! Ironhide ignored the humans attempts to pull him off of their comrad. Ironhide bit into the human's arm as he brought it up to protect his face. Ironhide might have been provoked to the point of wanting to kill the man. But that was the diffenence between him and the fighting dogs. He knew better. He held back the temptation to finnish the man off by striking him at the thoat, and instead bit his arm.

No matter how loud the human screamed, no matter how hard the humans tried to pull him away from their comrad, Ironhide refused to let go! It may have been cruel to inflict pain on the human and not even put him out of his misery in the end. But Ironhide believed this was fair justice. Somehow this had to be right. Ironhide was clutching the bloodied arm in his mouth and even shaking it, just waiting for someone to dare and shock him! Suddenly a screaming and howling noise distracted Ironhide from his revenge. He looked over to the kennels and saw the Autobots all laying on their sides in pain! Ironhide realized what he had done and jumped away from the human. When the human was released, the other humans huddled around him. Ironide was a couple feet away, and thought about making a run for it to get help. But another human snuck behind Ironhide, quickly put the choke collar with the leash ove Ironhide's shock collar, and pulled him back. Ironhide didn't protest at all that time. He followed the human holding his leash back to the kennels, and watched quietly as the other Autobots were brought out.

They all hung their heads low as the humans pulled them out with the choke collars and leashes (now obviously modified so that they _would_ choke the Autobots, unlike before). Skids and Mudflap were electrecuted by their collars when they refused to come out of the kennels. Two quick zaps for each of them, though it felt like four, was enough to persuade them to do as the humans said. The human who was injured by Ironhide snatched Ironhide's leash with his good arm.

"You see what happens when you defy us?" He blamed Ironhide. Ironhide didn't respond. The human kicked at Ironhide's back leg to get him going. The humans with their flashlights, lead the Autobots across a grassy field towards the barn. Ironhide watched the lights in the distant barn. He started to wish the lights would just go out, and he would never have to put the other Autobots through any more unbarable pain. It was his fault they all suffered when he attacked. Ironhide didn't know how the Autobots could forgive him. He was supposed to be their leader when Prime wasn't there, and he made a foolish mistake that caused them all agony.

The Wreckers started to gain speed in their walking. They walked directly behind Ironhide's right shoulder. Skids and Mudflap changed their walking pattern and direction too. They side stepped to the right and walked at a brisk pace a few feet behind the Wreckers. Sideswipe inched closer to Ironhide's left shoulder, and Sunstreaker walked at lronhide's left side as well, but spaced himself a ways away from Sideswipe. Jolt sped up to walk a few feet behind Ironhide and between the husky twins' open space. Ironhide glanced around at how the Autobots fanned themselves around him. He understood what they were doing. The Autobots were imitating their battle formation from the previous mission. Ironhide nodded and aknowledged them all. The husky twins winked. The pitbull twins gave twisted smiles. The Wreckers blinked twice. Jolt nodded back. (The humans never suspected a thing.) Ironhide held his head a little higher and walked more confidently. He was pleased to know that he had a great bunch of Autobots with him, who would stand by him, fight for him, and follow him til death.


	6. Chapter 6

The Autobots were lead into a small and skinny back room in the barn. They obediently stepped inside the kennels set there for them and let the humans lock them in. The humans left through another door and left the Autobots alone. It wasn't long before a familiar human came back in. He was the one who Ironhide attacked, and of course, he went directly to Ironhide again. Ironhide threatened the human with a growl. At the time, he wasn't thinking about the collar. But when he remembered it, the human still didn't shock him. He unlocked the gate quickly and was about to haul Ironhide out, when a loud bark from across the room made the human jump. Sideswipe's eyes were locked onto the human.

"Don't waste your time with him. Decepticons have already beat the slag out of him vorns ago. He's weak!" Sideswipe yelled. The human quickly locked up Ironhide's kennel again and went straight across the room towards Sideswipe. He opened the kennel door and grabbed Sideswipe by the collar. Sideswipe pulled back at first, but he was forced out and pulled away from the Autobots. Sideswipe looked back at Ironhide with a wide and cocky smile. Ironhide stared back with confusion. He looked at Sunstreaker, who was just watching quietly. When Sideswipe and the human left, Ironhide asked Sunstreaker.

"Does he have a plan?" Sunstreaker shook his head.

"No. He's just stupid." He said.

Sideswipe felt a shiver run down his back. He knew he should have been scared stiff at the fighting ring, knowing he was about to be in it. But he wasn't scared at all. The shiver was for excitement. He was ready to get back into the Glatatorial Games. As he aproached the ring, he saw the old days of compeating in the games on Cybertron all over again. The humans kicking at him to get him angry was new, but other than that, he was in his element. He shot a few agressive snarls at the croud to show off, when Sunstreaker called in.

**"My wise and hansome brother's voice is inside my head right now, and he's saying "Don't do it Sideswipe."." **Sunstreaker said in a hypnotizing voice. **"And I Sideswipe, will listen."**

**"I hear your voice inside my head all the time Sunstreaker."**

**"Seriously Sideswipe. You're the last one of us that deserves to be here. You don't have to take the heat for everyone."**

**"I'm a great warrior Sunstreaker. You don't have to protect me all the time."**

**"That's right Sides. You're a great warrior. A soldier. But you're not this. You nearly lost your mind on Cybertron because you got so wrapped up in fighting."**

**"You still think I was obsessed with the games don't you?"**

**"You were obsessed! You were going crazy from it. You nearly killed me a couple times, thinking you were still in the ring!"**

**"You're just jealous because I was a higher ranking fighter than you."**

**"We're equally strong Sideswipe. It should be me out there because I can fight in the ring and stay sane."**

Sideswipe didn't respond. It was time to fight. The gate around the ring slid open and Sideswipe jumped in. His 'owner' held the leash loosely, knowing that Sideswipe was smarter than the average dog. Sideswipe wisely observed the dog on the other side of ther ring. It was another american bulldog. This one thrashed back and forth, trying to get off its chain. When he saw Sideswipe he charged at him. Sideswipe stood up on his hind legs, jumped over the charging dog, spun around, and clamped his jaws around the dog's ankle. The croud was amazed at Sideswipe's accrobatic dodge and cheered. Those who had doubts in the husky making a good fighting dog were all in awe at Sideswipe. The american bulldog didn't yelp, but he made an obviously pained face. Sideswipe twisted the dog's ankle with his full body weight, and pulled the dog's leg out from underneith him. The dog fell on his side, and tried to get back up. But Sideswipe was on him in an instant. The dog nipped at Sideswipe, but Sideswipe stayed just out of reach of the dog's jaws. He attacked the dog from the back of the neck with teethe like knives. He tore through the dog's fur and skin. When he tasted blood, he realeased imediatly. It scared him, when he heard the dog cry. But what scared him even more, was that the blood tasted like energon!

Sideswipe scanned the dog out of habbit. He confirmed the dog was organic, but he had energon in his blood. The dog stared back at Sideswipe and gave one last cry. The next minute, to no fault of Sideswipe, the dog was dead on the match was over. Sideswipe won. But he didn't feel like a winner. Next to hearing a frightened sparkling scream, the dog's yelp was the worst sound he'd ever heard. Sunstreaker was right. There was no point in this senseless violence. And more importantly, that dog wasn't all organic! Sideswipe sniffed the dog. His sweat smelled like energon. Now it made sense. The dogs had energon inside them, and the more they moved around in the ring, the more they sweated. And the more they sweated, the more the scent of energon was wafted around the dogs and around the barn. Sideswipe stood back and watched the american bulldog's owner take him away. Sideswipe regretted his choice to fight for the others. He felt awful about what he was doing. The humans started to cheer again for the upcoming challenger. Sideswipe took a few more steps back and braced himself. He'd have to fight til he couldn't fight anymore to protect the others.

"Oh well." Sideswipe mumbled so no one else could hear. "At least it can't get any worse." The croud parted and another human aproached with another dog. Sideswipe was shocked when he felt a familiar pressence coming near him. 'It couldn't be.' he thought. Sure enough, a familiar blonde husky was being lead into the ring. Sideswipe panicked. **"****Sunstreaker?"**

**"They can't make us fight."** Sunstreaker told Sideswipe when he was pushed into the ring. The croud was outraged that the two dogs didn't start trying to kill each other.

**"No. We have to." **Sideswipe growled, chasing after Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker swiftly got behind Sideswipe and they started to circle around each other. The croud started to cheer again. Sideswipe snapped his jaws dangerously close to Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker gave an evil 'you'll pay for that' glare. **"Just go with it. I have to tell you something." **Sideswipe advanced on Sunstreaker and lunged for his face. Sunstreaker ducked his head, and bit at Sideswipe's leg.

**"What?" **Sunstreaker asked with his teethe gently and carefully around Sideswipe's leg. Sideswipe knawed at Sunstreaker's easily exposed ears. The croud noticed the dogs were fighting oddly, but as long as they jerked around quickly, and made aggressive growling noises, they were convincing enough.

**"That dog I just fought, he had energon in his blood. I think it killed him, because I only wounded him. And he died suddenly." **Sunstreaker released Sideswipe's leg, and swung his back end into Sideswipe's side. His ear was accidentally torn a little bit by Sideswipe's teethe. Sideswipe was knocked onto his back for a moment, but rolled over and got back up before he could be pinned.

**"So that's where the energon's been all this time?" **Sunstreaker asked, while barking feriously to back Sideswipe against the wall.

**"Yes. I tasted the energon and scanned just to be sure." **Sideswipe said. He was cornered now. Sunstreaker stared at him in bafflement. Sideswipe took advantage of the moment, charged, and aimed low for Sunstreaker's throat. Through he only mouthed at his brother's neck, Sunstreaker jumped and struggled as if he were being torn apart at the neck. The croud roared louder.

**"They let you scan him?" **Sideswipe finally realized what Sunstreaker was getting at. He kept faking his attack on Sunstreaker's throat.

**"I don't think they can detect us scanning without those camera's on us. They probibly still have hand held controls to shock us when they see us act up. But they can't see scans and they can't hear comm link conversations!" **Sideswipe backed away from Sunstreaker. They stared at each other, wondering if it was worth risking.

**"Ready?" **Sideswipe asked.

**"Ready bro." **Sunstreaker nodded. After a moment of silence, they both savagly dug their mouths into each other's necks, and ripped themselves free of the shock collars! The enemy humans in the stands couldn't react quick enough to electrocute the twins! One human jumped in with a restraining pole. He knew with the collars off, they had to get control of the Autobots fast! But he was no match for the twins' teamwork. Sunstreaker grabbed the poll with his mouth and played tug-of-war with it. The humans watching all laughed at the man trying to control the dogs. While he was distracted, Sideswie escaped out the wide open gate and lept into the croud. Sunstreaker released the pole and raced after his brother. Dozens of humans chased after them. The twins were almost at the door, when all of a sudden a SWAT team of soldiers busted down the doors. They commanded everyone to get down on the floor. The twins were a little confused in the sudden change of events. But they were quickly overjoyed to see a familiar face outside the barn doors. Waiting for them was Optimus Prime in his semi mode, Robert Epps, and Paul Briggs standing close by. The twins ran outside and didn't stop running til they were at Paul's feet, barking happily at him like puppies.

"You guys are taking this disguise way too seriously." Paul laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

NEST flooded the barn. The Autobots came out with the soldiers one by one. Ratchet, who came with Epps' backup team, was checking over the Autobots as soon as they were freed. He was currently checking over the twins, Skids and Mudflap. Ratchet held Skids' head down so he had a good angle over his head to scan for processor damage. Ratchet unknowingly was putting a massive strain on Skids' head and neck. He'd been complaining earlier, most of it Ratchet ignored. Mudflap sat down close by, with both hands on his head as if hurting from a splitting headache. He tried to speak up. But he was cut off when both twins suddenly blacked out. Mudflap fell flat on his back. Skids started to fall to his knees, but Ratchet quickly caught him. Optimus Prime looked over at the twins with concern. But Ratchet expected this.

"They're fine." Ratchet assured Prime. "The collars didn't have enough power to cause any permanent damage. They may have fried a few circuts, but they'll regenerate. Its not like they didn't have a few fried already." Ratchet opened the back of Skids' head and loosened a few notches to relieve the pressure. Next, he worked on discharging the shock collar's effect on his processor. As he adjusted the settings of Skids' processor, Skids slowly started to come back online. Skids was confused. He tried to pull away from Ratchet to see where Mudflap was. But Ratchet held him still. "He's okay Skids. Keep your head down." Ratchet ordered. He glanced up at the other twins who were standing by their fellow Autobots and human allies. He noticed Sunstreaker's right audio receptor was leaking energon, and Sideswipe's armor looked a little dented on one side. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker." Ratchet called. The twins turned around. "You're next over here." He said. The twins shook their heads even though they knew that wouldn't stop Ratchet. They'd be over there as soon as Skids and Mudflap were back to their version of normal.

"Okay. So to recap, we all know what we're going to tell the Secretary of Defense when we're back at base. Right?" Epps asked the Autobot audience.

"Humans poisoned their dumb animals with energon." Leadfoot answered.

"So that the energon would give off a high signal that Autobots could detect, but would have difficulty finding." Jolt continued.

"The dogs with energon presumably all died from it and not entirly from fighting injuries." Sideswipe comented on his own personal experience.

"No doubt the humans got the energon from Decepticons and trapped us because of Decepticons." Ironhide added. "But the question remains, why?"

"Its strange that Decepticons would give energon to humans and let it go to waste so easily. I would not be suprised if the Decepticons expected you all to escape." Optimus Prime said.

"Well then what would have been the point of all this? Just to waste energon and scare us?" Sunstreaker asked.

"In a way, that is possible. If this stunt was a warning, then we have underestimated the Decepticons."

Sideswipe tapped Sunstreaker's arm. He nodded towards Ratchet, who was done with the younger twins and was waiting for his next paitents. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked over to him. Sunstreaker was the first to kneel to Ratchet and let him check him over. Ratchet started with Sunstreaker's leaking audio receptor. He pulled Sunstreaker's head in closer to seal up his wound. Sunstreaker grunted from being touched and handled. Sideswipe sent his brother a message with annoyance.

**"Get over it. Its just Ratchet." **Sideswipe said. They had known Ratchet ever since their creators died. For a long time, Ratchet was all the twins had until they were old enough to join the Autobot ranks. Even though Ratchet was their oldest friend and past guardian, the twins still tried to avoid his help and do everything on their own. But Ratchet was always there, whether the twins wanted him or not. And over time the twins learned, when ever they were in Ratchet's med bay or in Ratchet's care anywhere, to refer to the following rules. **"****Rule number one, Ratchet is always right. Rule number two, if Ratchet is _wrong, _refer to rule number one." **Sideswipe reminded him. Sunstreaker rolled his optics.

**"Rule number three, what ever Ratchet does, its to help you. He will not hurt you. Rule number four, if Ratchet does inflict pain on you, you brought it upon yourself." **Sunstreaker finished.

**"I wouldn't always agree to those two." **Sideswipe said. Ratchet knew the twins well enough to recognize when they were communicating through their twin bond. He could see their optics foccus more when they were communicating. When their optics relaxed, Ratchet talked to them.

"I heard these injuries weren't caused from humans." Ratchet said. He let Sunstreaker go after the audio receptor was sealed up. Sunstreaker sat up and let Ratchet take a few more scans.

"We had to fight." Sunstreaker said glumly. "Each other." He added.

"Well. You two did a good job of not ripping each other apart. Not too much anyway."

"It was weird fighting someone and trying not to hurt them." Sideswipe said. Ratchet nodded and let Sunstreaker go.

"Lay down Sideswipe." Sideswipe obeyed and layed on his back. Ratchet buffed the scratches out of Sideswipe's armor on his side and bent it back into place. Sideswipe flinched a few times. It was like a massage that doesn't feel good until its over. When both twins were feeling better, Ratchet dismissed them. Sunstreaker left imediatly, but Sideswipe stayed behind for a minute to thank Ratchet. The twins went back to their human friend Paul Briggs. From the moment they left the barn for the local authorities, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't leave Sergent Briggs' side. They were still so relieved to have their friend back.

At base, Ironhide visited Lennox in the humans' sick bay. As sort of a joke, he came in, in his rotweiler holoform like a service dog in a hospital or nursing home. He stood by Lennox's be and gave him all the details.

"Every 'bot got out okay. No one was seriously injured. We found what we were looking for...but that's what the slaggers wanted us to do." Ironhide said. He sighed and layed his head down on Lennox's bed in frustration. Lennox laughed, and patted Ironhide on the head.

"There's always tomarrow."

"But you're only human Will. You could have got hurt. More hurt." Ironhide corrected.

"We have to take risks in war, right? We're a team, Ironhide. All of us. And we can't give up until we bring these 'Cons down." Ironhide nodded at Will in agreement.

"Between the 'Cons siding with humans and all the crazy slag we have to put up with here, I don't know what's coming next." Ironhide suddenly perked up, hearing a familiar and happy voice down the hall. At first he didn't believe it, but there she was. The cutest little blonde girl anyone had ever seen, ran inside the sick bay and jumped onto Lennox's bed.

"Daddy!" Annabelle squealed. She hugged Lennox for a few seconds and then turned her attention totally to Ironhide. She hopped down from the bed and hugged the rotweiler. "Are you okay Hide?" She asked. Ironhide gave the girl a friendly lick on her hand like an normal dog would do. (Most of the dog charactistics he'd been imitating over the last day, he thought made him look rediculous. But as long as Annabelle was happy, he could take a few minutes out of his life to act like a dog.) Annabelle laughed and squealed. Ironhide smiled. 'Anything for the kid.' He thought.

"Yes. I'm just fine Annabelle." Ironhide answered.

"Sweety?" Lennox asked his daughter. "Its very late. How did you get here?"

"Bumblebee." Annabelle said happily.

"Bumblebee." Lennox sighed. Annabelle loved Bumblebee and Sam like they were family. Infact, they had their logic to back up how Sam and Bumblebee were theoreticly her family. She told him one day that, if Ironhide was considered Will's brother, then that would make Ironhide Annabelle's uncle. And since Bumblebee was adopted by Ironhide when Bumblebee was just a sparkling, then that made Bumblebee Annabelle's cousin. And of course Bumblebee and Sam were brothers, so Sam and Bumblebee were Annabelle's cousins. (Or at least that's how Annabelle put it.) Bumblebee and Sam were good friends for Annabelle to look up to. Will Lennox would agree to that, but when Bumblebee 'kidnapped' her in the middle of the night to come see her father and Ironhide; that was pushing it. Lennox desided he'd have to set some thing straight with Bumblebee. In the morning of course.

Annabelle slept in the sick bay, tucked inside her father's arm, and with Ironhide standing guard. In the morning when Ironhide woke from recharge he saw how peaceful Annabelle looked in the protecting arms of her father. Will opened his eyes and loked at Ironhide. Ironhide stood up and told him in a low and quiet voice,

"This is why we fight." Lennox nodded, knowing he was refering to the inocent child still sleeping in his arms. Without another word, Ironhide silently left the room. Father and daughter were left alone to their privacy, while Ironhide got an early start on his new day.


End file.
